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Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 2: From Coal to Containers, Piers 46, 47, and 48

Piers 46 and 47 are located south of Pioneer Square and Pier 48 is located directly west of Pioneer Square. Piers 46 and 47 serve as the Port of Seattle's vast loading apron for containers. Pier 48 is currently (2004) vacant pending possible expansion of the Washington State Ferry Terminal to the north, but visitors can find giant periscopes on its south side offering magnified views of the Port's container activity.
File 2481: Full Text >

Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 3: Yesler's Mill meets Elliott Bay: Foot of Yesler Way

The waterfront at the foot of Yesler Way (piers 1 and 2 by pioneer arithmetic, later piers 50 and 51) serves as an auto staging area for the Washington State Ferries terminal. Yesler's Wharf (there is today a plaque but no pier to mark the spot) was the site of Seattle's first steam-powered sawmill, built by Henry Yesler in 1852 at the foot of Mill Street (now Yesler Way). This pier was the center of local maritime commerce until it was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1889. Yesler's Wharf was replaced by piers 1 and 2 (later renamed 50 and 51) built by the Northern Pacific Railroad, and later operated by the Alaska Steamship Company. The piers were removed in the 1960s to accommodate the needs of the Washington State Ferry System.
File 2473: Full Text >

Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 4: From Mosquito Fleet to Ferry System at Colman Dock

Colman Dock, Pier 52, now the Washington State Ferries terminal at the base of today's Columbia Street, was originally built by Scottish engineer James Colman in 1882 to service the growing regional steamship traffic. Immediately to the north (now an auto waiting area) stood the Grand Trunk Pacific Pier, which was consumed in a tragic fire in 1914. Colman Dock served as the terminal of the Black Ball line before that private enterprise was taken over by Washington State Ferries in 1951.
File 2474: Full Text >

Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 5: From Railroads to Restaurants, Piers 54, 55, and 56

Piers 54, 55, and 56 are home to today's Ivar's Acres of Clams restaurant and the renowned Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. The Northern Pacific Railroad built the piers during the golden age of Seattle's maritime commerce spurred by the Klondike gold rush and expanding Pacific trade. Pier 55 collapsed in 1901, but was quickly rebuilt. President Theodore Roosevelt disembarked at Pier 56 during his 1903 visit to Seattle. The old piers had become obsolete for ocean shipping by the end of World War II, but they found a second life as homes for restaurants, import stores, harbor tours, and (briefly) Namu and other captive killer whales (orcas).
File 2475: Full Text >

Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 6: From Railroad Avenue to Alaskan Way

Following the Great Fire of 1889, which consumed the harbor from Yesler's Wharf below Pioneer Square to as far north as University Street, the Northern Pacific Railroad rebuilt and extended over-water tracks along the waterfront. The trestles were eventually planked over to create a dangerous, noisy "Railroad Avenue" between the upland downtown and open water. The Great Northern Railway later built a tunnel under downtown to relieve traffic pressure. Alaskan Way was built in the 1930s, and Alaskan Way Viaduct replaced it in the 1950s.
File 2476: Full Text >

Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 7: Waterfront Park

Pier 57, now Waterfront Park, was once the renowned Schwabacher's Wharf. Pier 57 was built in 1902 and taken over in 1909 by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad ("Milwaukee Road"), the last of four transcontinental railroads to reach Seattle.
File 2477: Full Text >

Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 8: The Seattle Aquarium and Vicinity

The present site of the Seattle Aquarium was once a giant coal pier and the city's first commercial swimming beach (brrrr!). Both had disappeared by the late 1870s. A furniture mill and s succession of fish processors followed.
File 2478: Full Text >

Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 9: Bell Street Pier and Vicinity

Piers 64, 65, and 66, including the Bell Street Pier and the Bell Harbor complex, are located south of Virginia Street and east of Belltown. The area was once a shantytown, home to mostly Native Americans. The steep drop-off allowed docks to be built parallel to the shore. These included the Orient Dock, replaced by the Lenora Street Piers (64 and 65) for the "Princess Ships" of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and finally, the Port of Seattle's original Pier 66 (built in 1914 on dirt dumped from the regrade of Denny Hill). The modern-day piers connect to Belltown via a pedestrian bridge.
File 2479: Full Text >

Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 10: Jogging From the Edgewater to Myrtle Edwards Park, Piers 67 through 70

The waterfront between Battery and Broad streets, beginning with Pier 69, is graced by the Edgewater Hotel, the Port of Seattle terminal for high-speed Victoria Clipper catamaran ferries, and Myrtle Edwards Park, which runs along Elliott Bay to Smith Cove. This northernmost part of the downtown waterfront has hosted a variety of historical uses including a yacht club, coal bunkers, canneries, barrel factory, grain and fishing piers, and an oil depot.
File 2480: Full Text >

Skamania County -- Thumbnail History

Skamania County on the Columbia River in Southwest Washington is home to several of the state's most famous features including Mount St. Helens in the northwest and Bonneville Dam in the southeast. It has the distinction of having been created by the Washington Territorial Legislature, abolished, then recreated. The county's story was shaped by the river and particularly by the rapids called The Cascades B that divided the lower from the middle Columbia. Skamania has always been tied to the economy and politics of Oregon and of Portland, the principal seaport on the Columbia. In the last years of the twentieth century, the economy shifted away from logging, and tourism became the dominant industry. Half of Skamania County's workers are employed outside the county. In 2005, the estimated population was 10,664.
File 7811: Full Text >